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2:30 PM ET, July 8, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Paul Krugman:
The Tariff Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves  —  The video above has nothing to do with the subject of this post.  A big red-headed woodpecker got to work right in front of me yesterday, and I thought I'd give him a few seconds before getting to the dreary subject of tariffs.  —  Yes, tariffs.
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Trump Says He'll Set 50% Copper Tariff, Wait Year on Drug Levies
Discussion: CNBC, Washington Times and Forbes
Mithil Aggarwal / NBC News:
China says it will retaliate on unfavorable deals after Trump warns Asia of higher tariffs
Discussion: Washington Examiner
David A. Fahrenthold / New York Times:
I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit  —  In a court filing, the tax agency said a decades-old ban on campaigning by tax-exempt groups should not apply to houses of worship speaking to their own members.  —  The I.R.S. said on Monday that churches and other houses …
RELATED:
Steve Benen / MSNBC:   Trump's IRS says churches can now endorse political candidates from the pulpit
Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing / Politico:
IRS moves to allow political engagement from churches, in a win for evangelical groups
Discussion: UPI, Newsweek, The Daily Caller and NPR
Washington Post:
A Marco Rubio impostor is using AI voice to call high-level officials  —  The unknown individual contacted at least five government officials, including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress, according to a State Department cable.  —  Summary167
RELATED:
Joseph Gedeon / The Guardian:
AI scammer posing as Marco Rubio targets officials in growing threat  —  Fake voice and text messages on Signal tricked senior leaders, as AI impersonation rises in global politics  —  An unknown fraudster has used artificial intelligence to impersonate the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, contacting at least five senior officials.
Farrah Tomazin / The Daily Beast:
Vacationing Ted Cruz's as ‘Fast as Humanly Possible’ Return Claim Crumbles  —  ACROPOL-OOPS  —  Cruz says he returned to Texas as quickly as he could after news of devastating floods broke.  Flight data tells a different story.  —  Ted Cruz could have booked numerous flights from Greece …
RELATED:
Adam Nichols / Raw Story:
Ted Cruz's rush from vacation after tragedy doubted as flight data revealed  —  Flight data shows Sen. Ted Cruz could have rushed back to his flood-hit Texas constituency after the deaths of 100 people — including 27 girls and counsellors at a summer camp, the Daily Beast reported Tuesday.
Discussion: The Daily Beast
Washington Examiner:
The Democrats' big Texas flood lie
New Republic:
Transcript: Trump Blurts Out Awkward Truth about ICE as MAGA Seethes  —  The following is a lightly edited transcript of the July 8 episode of the Daily Blast podcast.  Listen to it here.  —  Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR network.
The Guardian:
Top House Democrats demand release of Epstein files that mention Trump  —  Exclusive: Jamie Raskin and 15 others accuse justice department of withholding Epstein files to protect Trump  —  Hugo Lowell and Chris Stein in Washington  —  House Democrats on Tuesday demanded …
RELATED:
Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Trump goes off on questions surrounding Epstein: ‘This creep?’
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
Team Trump struggles to control the Epstein ‘client list’ fire it helped create
Nathan Bomey / Axios:
Elon Musk's empire at risk as Trump fallout deepens … - Musk is personally out nearly $20 billion — at least on paper — since breaking with President Trump last month, and his investors are out more than $100 billion on top of that. … - They're down about 14% since early June …
Discussion: New York Post and CBS News
RELATED:
Ashleigh Fields / The Hill:
DeSantis warns Musk against third party
Marisa Kabas / The Handbasket:
FEMA response to deadly Texas floods delayed & deficient with Noem in charge  —  Staffers sound the alarm. … Disaster struck in Texas on July 4th when the Guadalupe River rapidly overflowed, resulting in lethal flash floods.  As of Monday, local officials said at least 104 were confirmed dead across six counties.
New York Times:
Federal Agents March Through L.A. Park, Spurring Local Outrage  —  Federal officials said it was an immigration enforcement operation, though it was unclear if anyone had been arrested.  “It's the way a city looks before a coup,” Mayor Karen Bass said as she condemned the action.
RELATED:
New York Daily News:
Ex-NYPD chiefs sue Mayor Adams, top aides over alleged favoritism, corruption in department  —  Four high-ranking former NYPD chiefs are suing Mayor Adams, claiming they were forced to retire from the department after complaining that his “unqualified” friends were being placed …
Discussion: Bloomberg and abc7NY
RELATED:
New York Post:
Mayor Adams, police cronies forced out, punished investigators who were onto NYPD scandal: bombshell suit
Discussion: AM New York
Christine Chung / New York Times:
TSA to End Shoe Removal Requirement at Airport Security Checkpoints  —  Most passengers had been required to remove their footwear at checkpoints since 2006, a policy later eased only for members of trusted traveler programs.  —  Travelers at some airports, including LaGuardia …
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Gabbard's team has sought spy agency data to enforce Trump's agenda  —  The Director's Initiative Group has expressed an interest in gaining access to emails and chat logs of the largest U.S. intelligence agencies to root out “weaponization,” according to multiple people familiar with the effort.
Discussion: Breitbart
Scott Bauer / Associated Press:
Judge recommends that case against Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan proceed  —  A federal magistrate judge recommended Monday that the case proceed against a Wisconsin judge who was indicted on allegations that she helped a man who is in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration agents seeking to arrest him in her courthouse.
Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Texas flood exposed America's warped priorities  —  I've always believed there's a lifetime limit on excitement from fireworks — even on July 4 — and that I passed mine many years ago.  Maybe that's why I volunteered to pick up a family member at New York's JFK Airport last Friday night …
Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:
The Bleak Unifying Principle of This Supreme Court Term  —  It's an emergency whenever Trump says so. … On Thursday afternoon, the Supreme Court issued a brief order condemning eight migrants to banishment in South Sudan, where they face the very real possibility of torture and death.
Jacob Borg / OCCRP:
Exclusive: Top Trump Adviser Sergio Gor Was Born in the Soviet Union  —  The birthplace of U.S. President Donald Trump's director of personnel has been the subject of media speculation — fuelled by his refusal to answer the question. … When he was named director of the White House Office …
Discussion: New York Post and Wired
Anna McAllister / CBS News:
Alligator Alcatraz detainees allege inhumane conditions at immigration detention center  —  Cuban reggaeton artist Leamsy La Figura, arrested last week in Miami-Dade on assault charges, was transferred to South Florida's new immigration detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades …
FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth:
Alvarado ICE facility attack: 11 charged in ‘ambush’ on ICE officers, officials say  — 11 people have been arrested in what it calls a “planned ambush” on an ICE facility in Alvarado on July 4.  — Officials say 10-12 individuals in military-style clothing fired fireworks to lure officers out …
Mike Allen / Axios:
Trump's “tough cookie” call to Harris: New book “2024” on campaign aftermath … - “Phone service isn't what it used to be,” Trump quipped.  — “Aides ended up holding two phones together on speaker so that the rivals could talk,” the authors write.
Lawrence H. Summers / New York Times:
This Law Made Me Ashamed of My Country  —  Last week, Robert Rubin and I warned of the many macroeconomic risks created by the domestic policy bill President Trump signed into law on Friday.  I stand by our judgment that it will most likely slow growth, risk a financial crisis …
Discussion: STAT
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
On the Jan. 6 attack, Republican leaders keep failing basic tests of self-awareness  —  Key GOP leaders keep making comments suggesting they've forgotten that the Jan. 6 attack happened.  —  Shortly before House Republicans approved their far-right domestic policy megabill …
Josh Wingrove / Bloomberg:
Trump Says He's Weighing Federal Takeover of Washington, DC  —  President Donald Trump said his administration is weighing whether to take control of the city of Washington, DC, to help combat crime, in a move that would represent a dramatic upheaval to the capital's half-century of home rule.
Discussion: Newsweek
Sharon Udasin / The Hill:
Nearly two-thirds of US beaches saw fecal contamination last year: Report  —  As Americans flock to the country's coasts — and to the lakes and rivers in between — in the heat of summer, they may be doing so despite the presence of fecal matter.  —  A stark 1,930 out of 3,187 beaches sampled across …
Ramon Antonio Vargas / The Guardian:
Texas pediatrician ‘no longer employed’ after post about pro-Trump flood victims  —  Physician made a post wishing that Maga supporters in Kerr county ‘get what they voted for’ amid flash flooding  —  A pediatrician for a chain of clinics affiliated with a prominent Houston hospital system is …
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
The American Police State Is Here  —  ICE is about to eclipse the FBI as America's most important law enforcement agency.  That's bad.  Super-duper bad.  —  ∙ Paid  —  1. ICE > Medicaid  —  While most people spent the budget fight fixated on health care policy …
Ken Klippenstein:
Exclusive: Operation Excalibur in Los Angeles Was Show of Force  —  Leaks from military's LA deployment reveal Coca Cola vs. Pepsi rivalry, sweaty guardsmen, and abject failure  —  Today's homeland security operation at the 35-acre MacArthur Park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles was a mere …
Associated Press:
RFK Jr. promoted a food company he says will make Americans healthy.  Their meals are ultraprocessed  —  Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday praised a company that makes $7-a-pop meals that are delivered directly to the homes of Medicaid and Medicare enrollees.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Damon Linker / Persuasion:
How to Know When the Frog Has Boiled  —  Autocracy in America won't unfold the way you expect.
Media Matters for America:
Laura Loomer says she spoke with Trump following the signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill
Maxine Joselow / New York Times:
Trump Hires Scientists Who Doubt the Consensus on Climate Change
Tyler Pager / New York Times:
How Insularity Defined the Last Stages of Biden's Career
Discussion: New York Post and USA Today
Politico:
Education Department dismisses thousands of civil rights complaints at an ‘unheard of’ pace
Rian Dundon / American Prospect:
Photo Essay: ICE in L.A.
The Atlantic:
Zohran Mamdani's Lesson for the Left
Axios:
Inside Trump's Patriot missile plans for Ukraine
 Earlier Items: 
Russell Contreras / Axios:
Bill would force ICE agents to ID themselves, ban most masks
Errol Louis / New York Magazine:
Who's Afraid of Zohran Mamdani?
Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Fox News
Paul Waldman / Public Notice:
The Republican budget is a climate horror
Associated Press:
US adults want the government to focus on child care costs, not birth rates, AP-NORC poll finds
Paul Dallison / Politico:
FIFA opens office in Trump Tower
Politico:
Independent Dan Osborn makes another run at Nebraska Senate
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Bloomberg:
Sources: WBD begins exclusive talks with Netflix to sell its film and TV studios and HBO Max; Netflix is offering a $5B breakup fee if the deal isn't approved

The Guardian:
Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, and the Netherlands exit Eurovision after Israel received an all-clear to compete; the BBC and Germany's SWR plan to participate

James Faris / Business Insider:
Kalshi strikes a deal with CNBC that will integrate Kalshi's prediction data into CNBC's channel, site, and app starting in 2026, days after striking a CNN deal
 
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